Subj : The San Francisco Eagle Bar Becomes City's 1st Leather Community Landm
To : All
From : Major Queen
Date : Fri Oct 22 2021 03:46 am
BY JACOB ANDERSON-MINSHALL
OCTOBER 19 2021 11:41 PM EDT
San Francisco supervisors have granted city landmark status to the San
Francisco Eagle, a leather bar founded in 1981. The gay bar becomes the first
leather community site to be named a historical landmark in the city.
The local queer community has been advocating for years to save LGBTQ+ sites
before they are shuttered and their historical value lost.
This is the second leather bar in the U.S. of the same name to become a local
landmark, following 2020's designation of Atlanta's leather bar as a
historical landmark. Although Atlanta's Eagle received landmark status first,
it was founded six years after the San Francisco location.
The unanimous vote by the San Francisco supervisors had been expected after
the city leaders provided preliminary approval for the declaration two weeks
prior.
The South of Market location is within the city's Leather and LGBTQ Cultural
District, but, according to the Bay Area Reporter, it's the first LGBTQ
landmark designated within the district.
A recently developed Eagle Plaza now fronts the bar and honors the city's
leather, kink, and LGBTQ communities. The bar's gay owners supported the
designation, which San Francisco city Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents
the area, set in motion last year not long after the lot where the bar is
located was put up for sale. The property has reportedly yet to sell.
"The SF Eagle is one of the few remaining Leather bars in this area and holds
great significance for the LGBT community, LGBT history, and, indeed, the
history of San Francisco," Haney said when he petitioned the other
supervisors to support the landmark ordinance. "The city needs to do more to
acknowledge the critical role that places like the Eagle continue to play in
making San Francisco such a special place, and I am proud to put forward one
of SOMA's most beloved Legacy Businesses and gay bars for this important
distinction,"
According to San Francisco Planning, "The intent of Landmark designation is
to protect, preserve, enhance and encourage continued utilization,
rehabilitation and, where necessary, adaptive use of significant cultural
resources."
The designation should help the Eagle stay in business regardless of who buys
the lot it is located on.
